Make up isn’t just a skill of mine, its an enjoyment, which is why blogging about it isn’t a chore, its something I appreciate.
As I have mentioned in previous posts I have always had a keen connection with beauty bloggers and YouTube stars. I read blogs and watch the same people on a daily basis, from the likes of Zoella, Shani Grimmond, Bella Fiori, to name a few. They give me inspiration and teach me ways that I can adapt my skills further, giving tips and tricks on how to perfect certain techniques, ones that I use on a daily basis when applying my make up. Aside from the usefulness of these videos and blogs, they also acts as my favourite pastime. I admire their confidence and motivation to talk so openly about something they are passionate about, it has since made me realise that I have found that confidence myself.
Vivienne and Burgess write effectively about digital storytelling which is what I have conducted through the making of this blog, they argue ‘the digital storytelling movement has been an important intervention in community media arts, taking advantage of the affordances of digital media technologies but based on the sharing of personal images and identity narratives among small groups of participants” (Vivienne and Burgess, 2013: 283).
During the process of writing this blog, I have acquired a number of goals I wish to persue to take my passion further. I would hope that one day I can take my enthusiasm for beauty and use it in conjunction to my future aspirations, particularly my future career. I aspire to work in PR, and my ultimate dream would be to combine this with beauty by working with Make-Up brands to do campaigns for them. I have found blogging about make up is practically PR anyway right? so I’m almost there!
Aside from my blog I have also created an Instagram account to post pictures of my make up collection, beauty releases and just anything else I find pretty! As Wendt argues, ‘the methods for creating photos on Instagram have drastically changed former notions about photography, as we – not only in our selfies but also in other photos – appear to rely on smartphone screens rather than ourselves to compose photos’ (Wendt, 2014: 23) I enjoy photography and composing images on Instagram. I follow many beauty accounts myself which inspired me to create my own, they post selfies of their make up looks and also posed pictures of the products they used to show their followers. I enjoy making flat-lays and showing the beauty of make up in the images I post. The existing accounts similar to mine have taken it further and by being a blogger alongside, which is what I hope to achieve sometime in the near future! I wish to gain a following on my page in order to start a blog with a pre-existng audience in order to take my hobby and skill further.
instagram.com/xbeautyofmakeupx
Blogging, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook are social media platforms that have the ability to give someone an opportunity to produce content about a desired subject, something they feel passionate on and from doing so they are able form a community of people in an online space. ‘Web 2.0 is defined by the ability of users to produce content collaboratively, whereas most of what exists on Web 1.0 is provider-gener- ated. It is on Web 2.0 that there has been a dramatic explosion in prosump- tion. It can be argued that Web 2.0 should be seen as crucial in the development of the ‘means of prosumption’;Web 2.0 facilitates the implosion of production and consumption (Ritzer and Jurgenson, 2010: 19) . It is something that would not have been accessible to do before Web2.0 but its a great hobby to get into in order to talk openly and freely.
I would urge anyone who has a strong passion to think about starting a blog, it’s so easy to do and more importantly its actually great fun!
Caitlin x
Bibliography
Ritzer, G., and N. Jurgenson. “Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature Of Capitalism In The Age Of The Digital ‘Prosumer’”. Journal of Consumer Culture 10.1 (2010): 13-36. Web.
Vivienne, S., and J. Burgess. “The Remediation Of The Personal Photograph And The Politics Of Self-Representation In Digital Storytelling”. Journal of Material Culture 18.3 (2013): 279-298. Web.
Wendt, B., “The Allure of the Selfie: Instagram and the New Self Portrait”. Network Notebooks 08, Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2014. ISBN 978-90-822345-1-0.